1979 Classic GP Manager

Premium Member

What is this thread?
This is a F1 team manager game that starts from 1979. Playing is free and requires a relatively little effort by the players. Players choose teams that they wish to try and lead to the glory of becoming F1 World Champion. Gameplay consists of signing drivers, sponsors, engines and tyres and development of chassis.

A brief history
Following the tragic weekend at Monza that cost the life of Lotus driver Ronnie Peterson, F1 has had a stormy off-season. A number of FOCA (Formula One Constructors Association) teams demanded immediate actions from FISA, the sport's governing body, to improve the safety of the cars.

FOCA teams wanted more regulation on the safety aspects of car building and better pre-season crash tests. Their proposal also included reducing the speed and banning the turbos (only used by Renault) that were regarded too dangerous to drive.

FISA and most notably Ferrari on the other hand blamed Lotus's innovative ground effect as the primary cause for the accident. FISA didn't see a need for more safety measures and their proposal only included a ban on ground effect systems.

Both proposals were met with very mixed reception. Some of the smaller FOCA teams felt their opinions weren't heard enough when creating the proposal. Thus, Shadow, ATS, Ensign and Arrows switched sides to FISA camp. FISA camp wasn't uniform either as Renault was left in a limbo by both proposals. They felt more safety regulations were needed but FOCA's proposed ban of turbos was unappealing for them.

Negotiations lasted weeks and it seemed impossible to reach an agreement. FOCA, lead by Brabham boss Bernie Ecclestone, was already laying groundwork for a new rivel championship. Renault had released an official statement of their retirement from the sport.

Finally, somehow, an agreement was reached and the first Concorde Agreement was signed.

Here are some terms of the contract:

FISA and FOCA are disbanded, RDFIA will take control of the sport

All team managers, principals and leading FISA personnel are banned for life from the sport

All existing contracts between teams, drivers and engine and tyre manufacturers are nullified

Safety of the cars is greatly improved

Testing is tightly regulated by the governing body

Now it's the dawn of a new season and the teams need new managers badly. Are you the person they are looking for?

Aim of the game
The game has two aims.

to create an alternative F1 history to find out ”what could've been”, just for the amusement of the game moderator and other alt.history enthusiast

to determine the best F1 team managers of RD

How the game works
The race weekends are run on Microprose Grand Prix 2 by the game moderator. Driver and team attributes and values, contract negotiations, events etc. are calculated in OOo Calc sheets, made by game moderator.

Game moderator reserves the right to adjust any unrealistic values or functions at any time.

Race weekends
Race weekends are simulated twice a week; normally on Wednesday and on Sunday. However, as this is the first season the start times will probably vary a bit before a good rhtyhm is found.

Race weekends consist of pre-qualifying, two qualifying sessions and a race. Practice session are not simulated. Best 12 teams ranked by points in the last cut-off (end-of-season/mid-season) advance straight into qualifying. Two remainding team slots are filled by teams that have to go through pre-qualifying. Winner of pre-qualifying and his teammate, plus the team with best combined time will advance and join the best 12 teams in qualifying.

28 teams take part in qualifying. There is room for only 26 drivers in the grid so two slowest drivers won't qualify for the race. There is no 107% rule.

Points distribution

Points are awarded for the top-6 finishers on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis.

Note! Only the best four results from the first seven races and the best four results from the remaining eight races could be retained by each driver.

End-of-season prize money

Teams receive prize money depending on their final position in the constructor's championship standings. Below is a list of prize money awarded for each position.

How to sign up
You can sign up by replying to this thread. Be sure to include the name of the team you wish to manage. Available teams are listed below. If no teams are available you can sign up to waiting list. There is no limit on the number of sign-ups.

Available teams:
ATS, Merzario, Kauhsen

New teams become available the season they joined F1 irl.Next teams to join:
1980 - Osella
1981 – March, Theodore, Toleman

Note! By signing you confirm you have read and understood the rules of the game.

Premium Member

How to play
When a season begins game moderator creates a private conversation with each manager. The conversation can be used for any communication between the manager and game moderator. All team information not meant for public viewing (incl. Budget, development info etc.) will be shared via this route. Every manager can share any information they wish publicly.

Manager's jobs:

1. Each team receives 2-3 sponsor offers via PM. Every manager must choose only one of the available offers before the deadline indicated in the PM.​

2. Available driver and engine and tyre manufacturer lists are released. After signing a sponsor contract each team must bid for drivers, engine and tyres via PM before the deadline indicated in the forum post containing the lists.​

How the bidding works:

Every item (driver/engine/tyre) has a minimum salary/price that has to be met. Each team must make at least three offers for each item (except for tyres) including annual salary/price and length of the contract. Offered contract length can be 1-3 years (only 1 year for pay-drivers).

Note! It is advised to make more than three offers per item, especially if bidding for potentially popular items. There is no limit on how many offers can be made.

* Pay-drivers pay for their seat before each race. Each pay-driver has a maximum money he can afford to pay per race. Pay-drivers can be signed only for 1 year at a time.

Note! The highest bidder doesn't always win the bidding contest! There are other factors, including team status, that affect which team's offer an item chooses.

3. Each team decides whether to take part in pre-season test. Testing costs 500cr per team. Each team taking part in pre-season test gets a development boost more efficient than a regular development investment.​

4. Managers decide on the money invested in chassis development and the target of the development (Performance or Reliability). Failure to do so will result in no chassis development.
How the chassis development works:
Chassis development is done on a race-by-race basis. Managers decide on the amount of money used per race to develop the chassis and whether they want to target the development into performance or reliability (current chassis). When building a new chassis the development is general and managers can't target the development. Money invested per race can range from 100cr to 500cr by increments of 50 (150cr is a valid amount, 388cr is not). Teams cannot develop both performance and reliability at the same time. No money invested means no development.

More money used per race means faster and/or better development. With the minimum amount the development usually takes between 3-8 races to complete.The development money used per race can be determined for the duration of the whole season before first race or changed after every race, however each manager sees fit.
Each car has a randomised predefined amount of times it can be developed. After reaching the development cap the only chance is to build a new chassis.Note! Development money usage is not linear. 500cr investment per race doesn't equal 5 races à 100cr investment. It is advised to divide development money equally between the races for maximum efficiency, unless a team is in dire need of update of course.

Building a new chassis
Building a new chassis is slower and costs more than developing an existing chassis but can produce better results.
Teams can choose to build a new chassis at any time during the season. Designing a chassis costs an initial 2500cr and building the chassis at least 100cr per every race the chassis is in development. Money invested per race can range from 100cr to 500cr by increments of 50. More money used per race means faster and/or better development. With the minimum amount the development usually takes between 10-14 races to complete.Note! When building a new chassis managers can't target the development into performance or reliable. Rather, the development is general and requires only monetary investment as explained above.

5. When dealing with team budget, a manager should keep in mind that the team's budget cannot go below zero. If a team cannot afford to sign an engine and/or tyre deal for a season or cannot afford to pay for its existing contracts, it will go bankrupt and fold. The manager of such team is free to rejoin the game with a new team next season.​

Useful notes

There will not be any videos of the race simulations. Short descriptions of the races are provided by the game moderator. The events mentioned in the commentaries might not have actually happened and be made up by the moderator instead. Players are free to RP any actions on and off the track if they wish (please keep it realistic though).

Game moderator will never share any team's budgets, bids or car performance/reliability values publicly. Managers are free to share any information they wish in this thread.

Managers will have to rely solely on race weekend results to find out the relative performance differences. No exact BHP/grip/performance values are shared with the managers.

Above applies to drivers's attributes too. Drivers's abilities are based (but slightly randomised) on real life 1979 levels. Driver attributes are updated after ever season. There are multiple things that effect the increase/decrease including age, motivation, general performance during the season and performance against team-mate. To put it shortly, the better a driver performs, the more his skill will increase and vice versa.

Driver motivation is a hidden value that effects attribute development and the date of retirement. When motivation goes below zero and doesn't have a contract for next season, a driver will retire and he will be erased from the files. This means once retired driver cannot make a comback (like Lauda/Schumacher).

Drivers cannot get killed. This means drivers like Villeneuve or Senna are included in the game and will not retire before their RL accidents but instead will be able to race beyond their RL accidents. Game moderator understands this can be a controversial decision but surely the only logical one. This way we can really see what the drivers could have achieved and it is in no way meant to be disgraceful towards anyone.

Teams stay in the game as long as they have an active manager and they don't go bankcrupt. This means that for example Lotus can race beoynd the 1994 season.

New drivers join the driver pool the season they joined F1 in real life. Sorry, Schumacher won't be available until 1991.

Each team receives 9 free development points (worth 9 races of 100cr development) in the off-season. This means that especially building a new chassis is most profitable when scheduled to mostly take place during the off-season.

Signing pay-drivers can be risky business, not everyone has the money to complete a full season! Pay-drivers that run out of money can be sacked immediately (but not automatically).

Teams can sack drivers and change engine/tyre manufacturers during the season. No money will be returned by the sacked drivers/manufacturers.

Sacking pay-drivers costs 50% of the money the driver has so far paid for the team during the season (if pay-driver is paying 100cr/race and has raced 6 races, sacking him will cost (6*100cr)*0,5=300cr).

RNG plays a relatively big part in this game so don't take it too seriously.

Had things gone my way, who knows..Premium Member

alright, I've read the rules and I kinda like the game concept. I won't get to manage the team I wanted to, Shadow, but the Arrows does look nice
and I also had my best season in the F1 sim last season with Arrows.

#NR6Premium Member

Had things gone my way, who knows..Premium Member

if you mean the driver, nope, all contracts are reset and you have to sign your own drivers
So technically I can get a driver of such talent like the WDC Jody Scheckter (who was driving for Ferrari! dat irony tho), to drive for such a backmarker team like Arrows F1

#NR6Premium Member

if you mean the driver, nope, all contracts are reset and you have to sign your own drivers
So technically I can get a driver of such talent like the WDC Jody Scheckter (who was driving for Ferrari! dat irony tho), to drive for such a backmarker team like Arrows F1